Perfect Love
by Linda Manning
2022 Produced at the Cherry Lane Theatre, NYC
2019 Presented by Dixon Place and the Poor Mouth Theatre Co.
2018 United Solo Festival NYC
2019 Presented by Dixon Place and the Poor Mouth Theatre Co.
2018 United Solo Festival NYC
"Linda Manning proves mighty onstage in Perfect Love.... A 70s something female was seeking a type of perfection, beyond the feminine mystique where a young woman could hope not to be devalued or ignored or thrown away. Linda Manning wants to interrogate this type of perfection. She repeats sequence by sequence, slowly developing consciousness beyond an unsightly room. The truth of her teens is nothing like a beautiful confusion. Yet, her desire to find form and create beauty is constantly present. Alone on stage, shedding light on passages of time that had been obscured, the solo artist finds dimension in a previously empty space." TheaterPizzazz.com
"Nothing is off limits here as she explores love, lust, desire, betrayal, and brutality. She relishes in the telling of her tale. Her words are courageous and her performance is revelatory and joyous to watch. She seeks and we gladly follow through both the good and the bad until she eventually discovers that what she’s endured has forged her into the exceptional woman and artist she’s become."
Edward Medina, TheatreReview.NYC
"We live in a time when women STILL cannot speak many truths without being morally, personally, socially bludgeoned, but if you are seeking inspiration to not only “speak” the truth, but “live” the truth … You MUST see this show." WIN - Writers Innovative Network
"Nothing is off limits here as she explores love, lust, desire, betrayal, and brutality. She relishes in the telling of her tale. Her words are courageous and her performance is revelatory and joyous to watch. She seeks and we gladly follow through both the good and the bad until she eventually discovers that what she’s endured has forged her into the exceptional woman and artist she’s become."
Edward Medina, TheatreReview.NYC
"We live in a time when women STILL cannot speak many truths without being morally, personally, socially bludgeoned, but if you are seeking inspiration to not only “speak” the truth, but “live” the truth … You MUST see this show." WIN - Writers Innovative Network
The Dramatists Guild Blog - January 2020 -- Why I'm Like This: Developing My Solo Show
The Dramatists Guild Blog - March 2020 -- Tell Your Story: Performing, Producing and Promoting my Solo Show
Bite The Apple
by Linda Manning
2022 Produced at the 224 Waverly Place Theatre (home of Rattlestick Theatre) with a generous grant from
Cafe Royal Cultural Foundation
2012 NY International Fringe Festival
Cafe Royal Cultural Foundation
2012 NY International Fringe Festival
"The ensemble of actresses are remarkable, particularly the evocative and nuanced performance by Manning. Bite the Apple is a smart script with intricate dialogue and beautiful language...."
Joseph Samuel Wright, Theatre Is Easy, New York, NY
“Part adaptation, part re-telling, and part re-imagining, Linda Manning’s new play Bite the Apple persuades the audience members to reconnect with their stories, identify where their journeys have derailed, and reaffirm that each of them is ‘worth saving.’ And although this appeal is made through the lives of fictional women to ‘non-fictional’ women, its urgent entreaty is for all who have ears to hear and eyes to see.... Yes, Linda Manning can make this stuff up and indeed it does not get much better than this well-constructed play.... See Bite the Apple. Watch it, listen to it, see it, hear it, savor it, and continue to chew on its core until you know ‘which version of you is the right one.’”
David Roberts, Chief Critic, Theatre Reviews Limited, New York, NY
Bite the Apple, written by Linda Manning, is a thoughtful play, raising questions about love, identity, and being seen as you truly are, instead of who you are ‘supposed to be.’"
Josephine Cashman, NYTheatre.com
“FringeTastic: Bite The Apple
The characters continue to peel back layers of each other, slowly revealing the meaning behind each of their happily ever afters. I recommend Bite the Apple to anyone looking for a relief from the classic fairytale ending."
Alison Goldman, Play by Play, New York, NY
Joseph Samuel Wright, Theatre Is Easy, New York, NY
“Part adaptation, part re-telling, and part re-imagining, Linda Manning’s new play Bite the Apple persuades the audience members to reconnect with their stories, identify where their journeys have derailed, and reaffirm that each of them is ‘worth saving.’ And although this appeal is made through the lives of fictional women to ‘non-fictional’ women, its urgent entreaty is for all who have ears to hear and eyes to see.... Yes, Linda Manning can make this stuff up and indeed it does not get much better than this well-constructed play.... See Bite the Apple. Watch it, listen to it, see it, hear it, savor it, and continue to chew on its core until you know ‘which version of you is the right one.’”
David Roberts, Chief Critic, Theatre Reviews Limited, New York, NY
Bite the Apple, written by Linda Manning, is a thoughtful play, raising questions about love, identity, and being seen as you truly are, instead of who you are ‘supposed to be.’"
Josephine Cashman, NYTheatre.com
“FringeTastic: Bite The Apple
The characters continue to peel back layers of each other, slowly revealing the meaning behind each of their happily ever afters. I recommend Bite the Apple to anyone looking for a relief from the classic fairytale ending."
Alison Goldman, Play by Play, New York, NY
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Best Supporting Actress 2021 Creation Int’l Film Festival Mina Martin (feature film) written and directed by Anthony Petrucci "... a standout performance by Linda Manning, who plays Jason's mother. Her delivery of anger and denial and betrayal was riveting. There were moments where I felt uncomfortable, like I was invading someone's personal space... in a sense seeing things I wasn't supposed to see." |
NY Daily News - 2012
"Bronx Playwright Takes Fictional Look at the Lives of Six Grimm's Fairytale Princesses"
"Bronx Playwright Takes Fictional Look at the Lives of Six Grimm's Fairytale Princesses"
Do Something With Yourself! The Life of Charlotte Bronte
by Linda Manning
Produced by The Invisible Theatre
Published by Smith & Kraus
This wonderfully quixotic piece by Linda Manning explores the struggles Charlotte faced, including her own stifling romantic ideals. With a striking level of skill and versatility, Manning and her costar Michael Pinney interpret the author's life in a manner that is always theatrical and ultimately moving."
TimeOut New York, New York, NY
"Writer-performer Linda Manning gives us a fiercely intelligent and sexual Charlotte Brontë.... The writing delicately renders the conflict between family responsibility and the artist's calling, between romantic yearning and the realities of married love."
The Village Voice, New York, NY
"DO SOMETHING WITH YOURSELF! . . . is a splendid example of what is special about live theater . . . and is a work of theatrical magic. If you appreciate innovative theater, don't miss it."
Town & Village, New York, NY
TimeOut New York, New York, NY
"Writer-performer Linda Manning gives us a fiercely intelligent and sexual Charlotte Brontë.... The writing delicately renders the conflict between family responsibility and the artist's calling, between romantic yearning and the realities of married love."
The Village Voice, New York, NY
"DO SOMETHING WITH YOURSELF! . . . is a splendid example of what is special about live theater . . . and is a work of theatrical magic. If you appreciate innovative theater, don't miss it."
Town & Village, New York, NY
"Pulling Linda Manning's play far away from the usual schoolish biographies is its intelligence, the sensuality of its heroine, and its exceptional theatricality . . . . Please, please, please do not miss it."
This Month On Stage, New York, NY
The play gives us brilliant insights into the inextricably joined nature of life and art . . . . What we are left with is a beautiful testament to the many ironies of the human condition, torn as we are in the struggle between the mundane and the exquisite. Do yourself a favor. See this play."
The Nice Paper, Providence, RI
"Manning has written a dynamic framework, full of conflicts and tensions, within which to exercise her nimble acting talents."
The Providence Phoenix, Providence, RI
"This is an opportunity that shouldn't be missed."
Warwick Beacon, Warwick, RI
This Month On Stage, New York, NY
The play gives us brilliant insights into the inextricably joined nature of life and art . . . . What we are left with is a beautiful testament to the many ironies of the human condition, torn as we are in the struggle between the mundane and the exquisite. Do yourself a favor. See this play."
The Nice Paper, Providence, RI
"Manning has written a dynamic framework, full of conflicts and tensions, within which to exercise her nimble acting talents."
The Providence Phoenix, Providence, RI
"This is an opportunity that shouldn't be missed."
Warwick Beacon, Warwick, RI
The Fall of the House of Usher
adapted by Linda Manning
Produced by The Invisible Theatre
"The Invisible Theatre Company’s adaptation of the classic tale is strikingly fresh, thanks to playwright Linda Manning’s bold vision.... Manning had a dynamic presence .... Deftly handling the madness that lies at the heart of Poe’s tale, Manning oscillated from a petulant little girl, to a proper young lady, to a disturbing sexual force.... The amount of humor that Manning has incorporated into the script, without compromising its horror, is one of its greatest accomplishments.”
The Off-Off-Broadway Review
New York, NY
"Poe would have been proud of Ms. Manning’s adaptation.”
Town & Village
New York, NY
"The Invisible Theatre of New York has collaborated with Providence's Groundwerx Dance Theatre in an attempt to physicalize Poe's tale. Their new version -- visually and musically exciting, sometimes incisive -- is a rhapsodic deconstruction. It is almost always intriguing.... Manning goes well beyond the usual adaptation ... her writing is strong and provocative…. At a dinner party scene, Manning herself (she plays Madeline with a variety of guises, all strong) does a wonderful takeoff on one of Tennessee Williams's best women, Amanda Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie.... The physical production is delicious, funny, pointed and well-performed. The four Groundwerx dancers range from wittily obsequious servants to sharp-faced furies, apparently representing the psychological and physical storms in this production. Their continued shadowy presence is a reminder that there are things we know and things we don't know going on inside and around us all the time. . . . that it is also a work of imagination, romance and thought brought to a physical culmination is undeniable.”
The Providence Journal
Providence, RI
The Off-Off-Broadway Review
New York, NY
"Poe would have been proud of Ms. Manning’s adaptation.”
Town & Village
New York, NY
"The Invisible Theatre of New York has collaborated with Providence's Groundwerx Dance Theatre in an attempt to physicalize Poe's tale. Their new version -- visually and musically exciting, sometimes incisive -- is a rhapsodic deconstruction. It is almost always intriguing.... Manning goes well beyond the usual adaptation ... her writing is strong and provocative…. At a dinner party scene, Manning herself (she plays Madeline with a variety of guises, all strong) does a wonderful takeoff on one of Tennessee Williams's best women, Amanda Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie.... The physical production is delicious, funny, pointed and well-performed. The four Groundwerx dancers range from wittily obsequious servants to sharp-faced furies, apparently representing the psychological and physical storms in this production. Their continued shadowy presence is a reminder that there are things we know and things we don't know going on inside and around us all the time. . . . that it is also a work of imagination, romance and thought brought to a physical culmination is undeniable.”
The Providence Journal
Providence, RI
The Obscene Bird of Night
Trinity Repertory Company
"Linda Manning is charmingly vulnerable as the girl Humberto sleeps with, then abandons, and superb as the Doctor."
The Mansfield News
"Linda Manning acquits herself well in several roles, especially as a Strangelove-ian doctor."
Providence Journal
"Equally exciting are the performances of two Trinity Rep Conservatory students: ... Linda Manning is both very sad and very charming."
The Nice Paper
Hurlyburly
Germinal Stage Denver
"At Germinal Stage Denver, the three women and four men in Hurlyburly take the stage like armed guerrillas. Director Ed Baierlein has melded his actors into an energy-charged mass that threatens to go critical in a barrage of obscenities....
Linda Manning is superb as Darlene, a tall, gorgeous prize manipulated by Eddie and Mickey for their own ends."
Jackie Campbell
Rocky Mountain News
My Sister in this House
Germinal Stage Denver
"Linda Manning, a statuesque actress with dark, deep-set eyes, radiates a spooky aura that's used to chilling effect for the role of Christine."
Alan Stern
The Denver Post
"Linda Manning -- poker straight and rail thin -- is wild-eyed and creepy as Christine, a tormented young woman whose limp mirrors a devastating psychological handicap. Steely determination counteracts her physical frailties."
Robin Cruise
Rocky Mountain News
Richard III
St. John's Cathedral
"Linda Manning plays Elizabeth, the widow of King Edward IV. We watch entranced as Richard cajoles her out of her mourning for her little sons (whom he has dispatched) and strokes her velvet mourning clothes. Manning is the perfect "painted queen" of the text."
Jackie Campbell
Rocky Mountain News
Shoes
The Changing Scene
"Linda Manning lends her fascinating persona to Rita in Shoes, providing the mysterious, sexy reserve that is her trademark as a performer."
Jacob Clark
Westword
The Summer of the Dance
The Changing Scene
"Bruce is a witty historian, married to Marianne (Linda Manning) -- a scheming, steaming sexual vamp who makes Lucrezia Borgia look as wholesome as Sandy Duncan. Manning's portrayal is first-rate, as Marianne, she oozes with carnal venality."
Justin Mitchell
Rocky Mountain News
"Linda Manning is sultry as Marianne. Her subtle voice inflections indicate the girl behind the flirtatious woman. Manning's pouts and pauses provide much of the production's humor."
Bob Haas
Westword